PRESS RELEASE: THOKO DIDIZA, FORMER MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM, FACES JAIL TIME FOR FAILING TO COMPLY WITH WESTERN CAPE HIGH COURT ORDER
On Thursday, 27 June 2024, the Western Cape High found in favour of three farmers from Beaufort West, holding the former Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform, and some of her departmental officials in contempt of court for failing to place them in possession of two farms on which they have been farming since 2017. The three farmers are represented by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC).
Mahomed AJ has ordered Ms Thoko Didiza, Ms Thokozile Xaso (Chief Director: Western Cape Provincial Shared Services Centre), Mr Terries Ndove (Deputy Director General), and Mr Lubabalo Mbekeni (Chief Director of Strategic Land Acquisitions for the Western Cape), as well as Mr Hendrik Booysen and Ms Lucy Nduku to restore possession of the farms to the applicants within 30 days, failing which they will be committed to prison for a period of 30 days.
The applicants, Mr Hendrik Bezuidenhout, Mr Harold Booysen and Mr Jan Bergh, are beneficiaries of the state’s land redistribution programme that has operated on Plateau Farms since 2009. Their sheep farming operations became highly successful, and in 2020 as well as 2023, their wool obtained the highest average price for the Beaufort West region at the national wool auction in Gqeberha. Since 2018, they have been caretakers of the farm, operating as an entity called Nuveld.
However, in January and February 2024, the Department unlawfully placed Mr Booysen and Ms Nduku, two former land reform beneficiaries, on two of the farms that make up Plateau Farms, depriving the applicants of their possession of the farms and seriously impacting on their business. On 4 March 2024, the Western Cape High Court ordered the Minister and the officials, as well as Mr Booysen and Ms Nduku, to restore undisturbed possession of the farms to the applicants. Despite repeated requests by the farmers and their attorneys to get the Minister and her officials, and the former beneficiaries to abide by the order, the Minister and her officials took no reasonable steps to abide by the order, and Mr Booysen and Ms Nduku remained on the farms.
Instead of complying with the order, an official from the Department brought Ms Nduku farming implements to help with vegetable farming. The Minister and her department took the position that despite them being responsible for placing Mr Booysen and Ms Nduku on the farms, including cutting the locks placed on the gates by Nuveld, the order restoring the applicants’ possession of the farms, did not require them to do anything to assist the applicants in regaining possession of the farms. The Department argued that it only had to withdraw its consent for them to be on the farms, but could not provide the court with proof that it has actually taken any steps to revoke their consent.
The court found that even on the Minister and her officials’ own version, their conduct following the order of 4 March 2024, demonstrated that they wilfully and in bad faith acted in contravention of the order. Mahomed AJ also found that Mr Booysen and Ms Nduku, who have refused to vacate the farms following the March 2024 order, are in contempt. In this regard, the court mentioned that the failure by the Minister and her officials to take steps to comply with the order, encouraged Mr Booysen and Ms Nduku to feel brazen enough to ignore the order as well. The Minister and her officials, as well as Mr Booysen and Ms Nduku have also been ordered to pay the costs of the application.
In addition to Mr Booysen and Ms Nduku, two other people also moved onto a part of Plateau in May 2024, apparently without the Department’s consent. The court dismissed their claim that they were occupiers under the Extension of Security of Tenure Act and have ordered them to also restore the applicants’ undisturbed possession of the farm with immediate effect.
The order of 27 June 2024 must be viewed against the backdrop of ongoing litigation between the applicants and the Department as to a 30-year lease over Plateau Farms. In 2009, the then Department of Rural Development and Land Reform allocated Plateau Farms, to more than 80 beneficiaries as part of its land reform project. The applicants were amongst these beneficiaries. All three are children of former farm workers in the Beaufort West area and they regarded access to this land as a means to eradicate the discriminatory land ownership patterns that prevailed under apartheid.
In December 2019, the Department placed an advertisement in the newspaper, calling for applications for a 30-year lease agreement over Plateau Farm. The applicants, who had formed a farming entity called Nuveld, applied, were interviewed, and were recommended by the National Land Acquisition and Allocation Control Committee (NLAACC) as the preferred candidates for the lease.
Despite this recommendation, the Acting Chief Director: Western Cape Provincial Shared Services at the time took a decision in September 2020, not to award the lease to Nuveld, for reasons that the Department refused to disclose to the three farmers. On 4 April 2023, the farmers filed an application in the Western Cape High Court to review and set aside the decision. This application is yet to be heard by the court.
Despite former-Minister Didiza no longer occupying this position, the order places an obligation on her and the officials from her Department to, within 30 days, take steps to comply with the order of 4 March 2024. If she or the officials fail to comply, they will be committed to jail for a period of 30 days.
